


Sailing Stars

by skeletorwrites



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989), Treasure Planet (2002)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ariel is an alien, Crossover, Daddy Issues, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Romance, Space Pirates, i swear i didnt mean to get this deep in this pairing it just happened
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26810245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletorwrites/pseuds/skeletorwrites
Summary: Ariel is an adventurer at heart with an unshakeable drive to explore the stars, much to the dismay of her father. When she finally hits her breaking point, she makes a decision that sets the wheels of fate in motion and changes her life's course forever; but in her search to find herself, she might just find more than she bargained for - in the form of a hot headed sailor.
Relationships: Ariel/Jim Hawkins (Disney)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Sailing Stars

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuse for myself and I accept the consequences but listen,,, lis t e n  
> they cute

Waves crashed weakly back and forth along the shore, orange-tinted water rippling from the movement. It was a peaceful sight, a sense of tranquility accompanying the soft rays bouncing off the surface. The tangerine sky stretched far beyond its reach, melting together further down the horizon with colors becoming more intertwined the further they went; almost as if one swam far enough, they could simply continue up into the sky and disappear within the stars peeking out from beyond the two lowering suns.

Ariel’s heart skipped a beat at the thought.

The object in her hand suddenly felt heavier, as if intentionally pulling her from her daydream. Her blue eyes gazed at it curiously, refocusing on the odd bobble she hadn’t given much thought to. To the untrained eye, it seemed to have no function. To her, it was a peek into a world she’d never seen with her own eyes. The metal was warm from the sand as it flipped over in her hands, and Ariel marveled at it, lost in the possibilities of what this small item could’ve once been; the same way she did with all of her findings. It was rusted, broken, roughly the size of her palm with a few cogs poking out of the lid.

Whatever it was, it didn’t call to her the same way other technology did when it washed up on shore; no soft hum of life, no fuzzy hymns she felt brush along her skin when she approached it. Just a lost, angular hunk of metal she happened upon while checking on her trove of treasures. And yet for some reason she thought it’d fit perfectly alongside the others, hidden between the rocks of the small piece of land carved out from surrounding water. With the rest of her collection.

Maybe someday she’d be able to find a purpose for it, if she ever left.

Giving one last look to the dwindling sky was pointless, but necessary. The yearning she felt to simply take off into the great unknown and never come back was stronger than any feeling she’d known, and it pulled on her like a vice. A vice more persistent than any the kingdom had on her. The quick glances were usually enough to tide her over until the next visit to the island, but those visits were growing fewer and farther between; her father was catching onto her lengthy disappearances from the castle. It was only a matter of time until she finished repairs to her vessel, but it'd be unwise to draw more attention to herself.

A cool breeze picked up and Ariel smiled, leaning back onto her hands. The wind played with her bright red hair and tickled her lips, until it finally pulled her voice from her and she began to sing. Eyes closed, heart in her throat, she sang to the sky and the stars and to anything and everything else beyond. Old melodies that her mother sang to her as a child, of adventure and danger and structures that float on air. Of other worlds that weren’t full of the same people and water she’d known her whole life. Things her father would dread if he knew she still had fantasies about.

The stern face of her father snapped Ariel out of her reverie with a startled gasp. The suns were nowhere to be seen; stars shone brightly back at her instead.

“Oh no,” she groaned, hastily pocketing the doohickey into her small satchel. She never stayed out beyond dark. If her father found out she was gone again, he’d be furious. Her plans could be compromised if he sent guards to find her.

“Oh no, no...” she repeated over and over, blood pumping with anxiety.

The warm water lapped at her feet as she quickly waded in, pulling the strap of her bag securely across her chest. With no time to waste, she dove in head first and immediately felt the familiar change in her body. Opaque, teal spirals and swirls that decorated her pale legs began to shimmer and morph, illuminating the water around her as she continued to swim down into the depths. The shift was a bit painful every time, which eventually drove her people away from the art altogether. She welcomed the discomfort. It gave her that rush of adrenaline she craved.

First there was warmth, then tightness, and finally a release. Once more she kicked, this time with the added strength of her fin.

* * *

“Your highness, please be patient. I’m sure she just didn’t realize what day it was,” a nervous voice echoed down the halls of the quiet palace.

“That’s exactly the point, Sebastian. She obviously doesn’t respect custom, nor does she realize how she’s inconvenienced everyone involved today.”

The harsh tone almost made the large crustacean cringe. “She’s still young, sire. She’s only just turned 18 the other week, and perhaps the thought of marrying-”

“We can't treat her like a child forever!” boomed the other voice, commanding respect from anyone within hearing range. Sebastian clammed up, staring silently as he measured his king’s temperament from the floor of the throne room.

Said king exhaled sharply in an attempt to quell his irritation, swimming back and forth deep in thought. Sebastian watched for a few more moments until the merman finally sank into his throne, anger giving way to exhaustion. His large hand came up to rub at his wrinkled eyes.

“She’s my youngest daughter, Sebastian. My little girl. I won’t be around forever to look after her, and the sooner we find someone who can tame her… eccentricities, the better I can rest at night knowing she’s cared for,” he explained with resignation. What would her mother do if she were there? He needed her more than ever. “All I want is for her to be happy. To be safe.”

Sebastian looked at his king with sympathy. For as powerful as he was, he had many weaknesses for his children. It made him a caring king, and anyone worth respecting followed him for this very reason. In more ways than one, he was a father first and a ruler second.

But his far reaching patience was always tested when it came to his 7th daughter, Ariel.

Sebastian was bestowed the role of her unofficial caretaker when she was born. He'd watched her grow up, doing his best to keep her out of trouble, and was by her side when the kingdom grieved for her late mother. It was a harsh reality check for their people after that incident, and Triton vowed that no one would venture outside the safety of Atlas’ waters ever again. Some left, most stayed, willing to part ways with the knowledge passed down for centuries of the worlds outside theirs. All in exchange for the promise of safety.

He knew more than anyone how worried the king was for Ariel and her fascination with the universe outside of their small planet. Despite attempts to cut those dreams short, nothing deterred the girl. She sought out knowledge like a fish drawn to water, from finding books hidden in old parts of the castle to learning early on she had an affinity for understanding machinery. She was a bundle of curiosity disguised as a girl, and her appetite for adventure was insatiable.

To Triton, that was the most dangerous of all. His last hope was to find a suitable partner for her within the kingdom who could, hopefully, keep her heart in Atlas.

“Am I doing the right thing, Sebastian?” the weary older man questioned. He was never unsure of anything, an immovable object. Only when he worried for his unruly child did he become like this. “That girl is just like her mother. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she met the same fate as my wife.”

The gears spun inside Sebastian’s metal casing, wanting to give his king the best advice he could. As his sole purpose of an advisor, it’s what he was created for. His metallic claws clicked and whirred as he stepped closer to the throne.

“I think you are doing the best you can, sire. I’m sure the princess will come to understand your reasons one day.”

“...I hope you are right, old friend.”

A loud clunk against the porcelain effectively ended the conversation. Both king and servant turned toward the large arched opening to the throne room, only to find a guard escorting a nervous-looking Ariel inside.

“Your highness. The princess, as you requested. She was found sneaking into her quarters a moment ago.”

The two broke apart at the entrance, and Ariel caught herself just before sticking her tongue out at the man for ratting her out. She swallowed it down, standing before her father’s throne in the large room. She didn't dare meet his eyes.

“Ariel.”

“... Hello, father.”

The imposing man tapped his fingers against the armrest. “Where were you today?”

Ariel pulled her long hair to the side, as she had a habit of doing while nervous, twirling bits of it around her finger while she thought on her metaphorical toes. “I was with Attina. We swam a bit by the gates. I’m sorry I was late,” she spoke softly.

If Sebastian could wince, he would. Triton just sighed heavily.

“Your sisters were all here, in the palace. Where you should’ve been, Ariel,” he said with a steeled voice. “Do you know what day today was?”

They saw right through the bluff. Her mind raced as she tried to recall, eyes catching sight of Sebastian shaking his head. “I-I’m sorry, I don't.”

“It was your engagement party. You were to meet the man you will marry today, but instead you chose to run off and ignore your duties and my wishes.” Her father rose from his throne, staring down his nose at her.

She felt her stomach drop. Marriage? She only turned 18 a week ago! When had her father made such an important decision, without even talking to her?

“Y-you can’t-”

“I can, and you will.”

“Daddy, I don’t want to get married!” was all she could argue, voice cracking. There was so much she wanted to do, and she already watched her sisters go down that road. Gone would be the days she could freely run along her secret beach, or search the ocean floor for space debris. She’d be shackled to the kingdom even more than she already was. Fear gripped her when she thought of what would become of her collection. Her treasures. Her dreams.

"I know you’re afraid of the unknown but you can't just lock me away from it!"

“I already _know_ what's out there!” the king shouted, walls of the castle vibrating. Ariel gripped the strap of her satchel tighter. She'd accidentally struck a nerve.

“You’re not a child anymore, Ariel. Enough with the fantasies. It’s time you grew up and fulfill your role as my daughter, and put aside this.. this _fascination_ with what’s beyond our world! ...Your home is here, with us.”

If her eyes weren’t so misty, she might’ve seen the concern shining through his stern façade. As it were, all she could feel were the sting of his words.

“No, Daddy. It’s not,” she choked, making up her mind.

Red hair whipped behind her as she turned her back on the throne. Her small stature made it easy to duck beneath the guards’ spears that blocked the entrance, and she spent no time meeting any of their questioning gazes. She swam from the castle, from her father, from the place she knew never wanted to accept her for who she was.

Triton deflated, clasping his forehead. The look on his daughter’s face would haunt him for the rest of his life.. but if that’s the price he had to pay for her to give up on leaving Atlas, so be it.

“Should we.. follow her, your highness?” asked one of the guards with uncertainty.

“... No. No, let her be for now. Tomorrow we will proceed with the suitor interviews, just.. let her be for tonight.”

* * *

Ariel hauled herself onto the shore, splashing through the shallow waves. Her arms ached from the distance she’d crossed in such a short amount of time and her lungs burned, but nothing could hurt as much as her father’s words echoing in her ears. Tears still poured from her eyes as she clambered onto her beach, barely feeling the transition of her tail into legs. One second she was dragging herself, the next she was running, legs wobbly and skin markings aglow.

He wanted to use a husband as a way to trap her?! That was no way she wanted to live her life, in an underwater prison forced into a loveless marriage. She loved her father with every fiber of her being, but she refused to be a willing participant in this farce.

It was hard to see in the dark of her small beach. Only the stars were her guide as she dropped to her knees and felt around for the opening she’d hidden well among the large rocks; so well that she almost cursed herself for being so crafty.

She sniffled and wiped her eyes. She had to focus.

A few moments of fumbling later and her fingertips finally brushed against cold metal.

“Yes!”

Crouching to make her way into the hideaway, she followed the thin wire she'd traveled time and time again. A quick turn to the right and past three small stones, she finally pushed herself flush around a large stone wall and sighed in relief when the space opened up into a small cavern.

Spreading her fingertips over the cool wall, she mentally searched for the hum of her collection. That reverberating thrum of life that ran through them in the form of electricity. Their voices. She needed the comfort they gave her as fellow oddities that didn’t fit in.

When she felt the static respond, she smiled.

“Would you please give me some light?”

Before she even finished her sentence, everything within the cavern began to blink into existence, as if waking from a long slumber. Her smile widened seeing her collection come to life, rows upon rows of loose machinery varying in size lining the cave. Lights of every color lit the room with their ambient glow, and she felt them respond to her as she moved to the center of the space. She strode up to a large mass standing in the center, covered with a ragged cloth. Her restless hands uncovered it with excitement, and Ariel stood back to admire her handiwork.

“Are you ready to leave this place?” she asked the pod kindly. 

Two years prior, while out on one of her normal dives for hidden treasures, Ariel crossed paths with a ship along the ocean floor. A _spaceship_. Rusted, old, and definitely in bad shape, it looked to have sat there for years without being disturbed. Theories of how it got there or who knew of it immediately flooded her curious mind. Was it still operable? It’d be a miracle if it was at that point. Hell, it was already a miracle no one had found and destroyed it yet.

A brief moment of doubt passed over her and she wondered if she should just leave it. Nothing good would come out of her poking around in something so foreign, as her father would probably say. Just as she was about to turn away, however, she noticed the old faded writing on the craft, submerged in a thick layer of mud; inscribed on the side of the hull were scriptures written in Old Atlantic. Ancient Atlas text.

It was a spaceship. From _her_ planet.

The craft was easily the size of her father’s throne, large enough to fit a person or two in the heavily damaged cabin. Ariel made mental notes of surface level damage, thinking of what she had in her treasure trove to repair it with. It was made from a dark material, a dense metal that had survived rather well underwater. If she tilted her head and squinted, she could even make out the ship’s likeness to a fish. Although one of the rudders looked to be missing some blades, making it look like it’d swim lopsided if given the chance.

She chuckled. Her ancestors sure were imaginative.

Lifting it from the wreckage wasn’t an easy task, and it took her many days of digging before she could even think of how to bring it to her tiny island getaway. Instead, she took it piece by piece, dismantling what she could and carrying it. Each trip she spoke to the parts, learning from them and how they worked while doing so. They guided her on how to put it back together again. The engine, the control panels, the wires; all of them were her friends now.

Her father hated when she spoke to technology that wasn’t Sebastian or other servants in the castle. “Your mother was also a technopath,” Sebastian had told her once. “It reminds him of her when you talk to them.”

The engine roared to life and Ariel felt excitement emanating from the ship, bringing her out of her thoughts. The machine hummed loudly when she stroked its exterior and she giggled.

“Looks like we’ll be taking off sooner than I thought, Flounder.”

The affectionate name caused more lights to blink.

“Daddy is trying to trap me here, Flounder. I’m not going to let him. I think if we work through the night, I can get your gravity rig finished, but.. what do you say?”

The metal warmed where she touched, and it felt like a hug. That was all the encouragement she needed.

“Alright then,” she nodded up at the tall metal plating. The engravings from her ancestors smiled down on her. “Let’s get started!”

* * *

Jim fastened a rope to the large rusted hook securely embedded in old wood, double knotting the tough material. The open sails above his head caught the breeze just as he finished, and he took pride in his handiwork before a call from another crewmate beckoned him. The Captain liked a timely schedule even more than she liked scaring new recruits, so he quickly jumped down to move cargo into the ship’s hull.

This trip would be a long one. Three months, if he’d heard the Captain right, with multiple stops. She tended to take the more challenging of the kingdom’s requests for shipments, reveling in any opportunity to prove her ship as the most capable against competitors. Because of that insistence of hers, the pay would be good this round. Enough to send back quite a bit to his mom, with leftovers. He could finally get himself a few more parts for his hoverboard.

“Hawkins!”

The commanding voice sent a jolt up his spine and he shot up. “Yes, Captain!”

A chuckle greeted him and he relaxed, turning to see the amused face of the imposing feline he’d grown to know over the last few years.

“At ease, sailor,” she purred. The twinkle in her eye almost made him roll his own. “Have our masts been triple checked yet? We’re just a few moments from departure, and I trust you know how I am with schedules.”

This time Jim did roll his eyes. “Yeah, checked ‘em myself.”

“Does that mean I should have Briggs take a look?”

He glared as she chuckled again. The grinning woman waved at the crew loading the last of the cargo on deck, signaling to hurry it up. Jim bit his tongue, knowing he’d never win in a battle of wits against her; instead, he stuck his tongue out while she wasn’t looking.

“How’s your mother?” she asked offhandedly, keen eyes trained on too many things at once. Jim bent to pick up a rope lying haphazardly by his foot and began to coil it.

“Fine. Same as always,” he answered. “... Still worried about me.”

She nodded. “I see. Well, Hawkins, as a mother myself, you should know we never stop worrying,” she smiled. Graceful hands adjusted the lapels of her coat. “So do me a favor and spend some time with her after we dock again, alright?”

Jim stared at the ground, mulling over her words. She was right, of course. He always avoided the Inn because of the memories of his father, and in doing so ended up avoiding his mother. He should probably stay for more than a week at a time, for once.

A loud whistle blared, and before Jim could say anything the Captain turned on her heel to head toward the top deck. She halted on the second step.

“And bring a girl home to her sometime, would you?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! A bit of background info to help understand the world a little bit:  
> 1\. Story takes place 2 years after canon Treasure Planet movie. Jim has worked as a crew member on Captain Amelia's ship since then. Still has daddy issues  
> 2\. "Mermaids" live on a relatively small planet almost completely covered in water called "Atlas". More lore to come


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